The present disclosure relates to an ink container and an inkjet image forming apparatus including the ink container.
There is an inkjet image forming apparatus in which an ink container housing an ink pack filled with ink is attached, the ink is supplied from the ink container to a recording head, and the ink is ejected from the recording head to a sheet to thereby form an image on a surface of the sheet.
As one example, as shown in FIG. 20 and FIG. 21, an ink container 101 is composed of an ink pack 102 filled with ink and a container case 103 housing the ink pack 102. The ink pack 102 is configured so that a film member having elasticity is formed in a bag-like shape in which a gusset is provided, whereby when the ink is charged, the ink pack 102 is inflated, whereas when the ink is used and decreases in quantity, the ink pack 102 is contracted.
For example, there is an ink cartridge (ink container) including a liquid storage container (ink pack) in which ink is to be sealed and a box-shaped exterior body (container case) into which the liquid storage container is to be inserted, wherein an engaging face is arranged at one end of the exterior body and a supply port to be engaged with a side of a printer (image forming apparatus) is provided on the engaging face. On a bottom face opposite to the engaging face of the exterior body, a depression which is a grip at the time of pulling out the ink cartridge is formed. The engaging face is made of a hard material including plastics or the like, and the exterior body is made of a soft material including paper or the like. In this manner, while an increase of manufacturing costs is prevented, an environmental load is reduced, and operability at the time of attachment/detachment is improved. Incidentally, the liquid storage container is formed to have four faces by bonding four films with thermal welding, and on the left and right side faces, folds which are parallel to each other in the insertion direction with respect to the exterior body are formed. In addition, the liquid storage container collapses in accordance with the folds as the ink flows out, and converges on a horizontal face including terminal ends which are bonded with each other by thermal welding of the films.
In the ink container like the abovementioned ink cartridge, although the container case is made of paper, the engaging face or the supply port which is a connection portion to the image forming apparatus is made of plastics. In this case, depending on the strength of the case, the engaging face and the supply port each cannot be mounted to an appropriate position of the exterior body, and it becomes thereby difficult to attach the ink container to the image forming apparatus. Further, in the paper-made container case, if the case is wetted with ink, the strength lowers, and reuse or recycling becomes impossible. Also, in a case where the ink container with the ink pack being housed therein is transported, the paper-made container case does not have a suitable strength for transportation, and is easily damaged; and therefore, a packing member or a buffering member is required, thus increasing transportation costs. In addition, if the container case is made of a material having a suitable strength for transportation, material costs increase.
Further, similarly to the abovementioned ink cartridge, in the ink container 101 shown in FIG. 20 and FIG. 21, if the ink decreases in quantity, the ink pack 102 with folds being provided on both side faces thereof deforms so as to contract in the vertical direction and expands in the longitudinal direction. However, this ink container 101 is formed to adapt a length of the container case 103 to a length of the ink pack 102 in an inflated state thereof. Therefore, even if the ink pack 102 is about to deform with the decrease of the ink, an end of the ink pack 102 abuts against an interior wall of the container case 103 and thus expansion of the ink pack 102 is prevented (refer to FIG. 17). Accordingly, an inflated part is left in the ink pack 102, and the ink still remains in the thus inflated part; and hence, there is also a problem that the ink cannot be fully used up.